Posted on 07/09/2007 5:26:04 PM PDT by mdittmar
Pakistani troops early Tuesday launched a massive operation against a cleric and his armed men in a besieged Islamabad mosque after negotiations failed, a top military official told AFP.
"The troops are now inside the mosque, they are at the roof top," top military spokesman Major General Arshad Waheed told AFP.
"It is a final push to clear the place of armed militants," he said, adding that the militants were putting up stiff resistance.
The talks between the Pakistani government and a cleric holed up with armed men at the mosque failed early Tuesday after he refused to release women and children allegedly held hostage, an official said.
Top government negotiator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain announced the failure after 11 hours of talks, which was followed immediately by heavy firing and two massive blasts.
"After 11 hours of negotiations we are deeply disappointed that the talks did not succeed," he told a news conference near the Red Mosque.
NOt a good sign, just like Tora Bora, the jihadis always create escape routes.
PA says no nerve gas was used, however a doctor has reported that he treated about 100 girls for effects of tear gas and suffocation.
That headline is only necessary if there is an American soldier in the vicinity.
We should all thank Mushy for taking such a powerful stand against our enemies. Here’s his email address:
http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx
Gee wheez. A slight mix up in the negotiations.
93 students arrested in the fight. Estimated 150 students killed.
Somewhere ...maybe it was from Roggio...I think the issue was the HVT....the militants wanted a guarantee of safe passage and Mussy wanted them dead or alive (my words)...no mixup...he did the right thing!
Martyrs don’t get “safe passage”.
Thank you for the clear and concise reportage. Judging from the page views, there were a lot of eyes watching the updates without interrupting with the usual insipid banalities. This thread is a near classic.
Exactly. Pakistan is major source of terrorists and the Pakistani military supports and encourages it. Even when Pakistan allows American special ops people into the country, they must be accompanied by Pakistani military people, so, gee, I wonder why they never really root out anyone? If Bush were true to his word, we would have invaded Pakistan instead of Iraq.
Oh wait, they have nukes. Once a country gets nukes, we leave them alone.
Abdul Sattar Edhi, head of the private relief agency Edhi Foundation, told reporters that the army had asked him to prepare 400 white shrouds used for covering the dead.
troops had demanded four times that Ghazi surrender, but his followers responded with gunfire
Concur, and a BTT. Ghazi getting it from his own side is icing on the cake. Gandalf, many thanks for the reporting.
Correction: Mullah Abdul Rahman is in the compound, differant guy from the one we killed in 2003, he is an aide to Ghazi and is reported to be captured.
Radical cleric threatens suicide attacks, sets up Islamic court in Pakistani capital
Ghazi’s corpse has been left where he was shot dead. Same orders for all kia, leave them where they fall incase of suicide vests. DNA samples/pics to be taken before any bodies removed.
Pakistani rebel cleric 'killed'
*****************************EXCERPT***************************
'Asked to come out'
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said Mr Ghazi was killed as troops were flushing out militants still inside a madrassa (religious school) for women and girls inside the mosque compound.
"He was spotted in the basement and asked to come out. He came out with four or five militants who kept on firing at security forces," Mr Cheema told the AFP news agency.
"The troops responded and in the cross-fire he was killed.
"There are still certain areas to be cleared. The body is in the compound. The other militants were also killed in the fighting."
Brig Cheema said Mr Ghazi had used a number of women and children as "human shields", although the cleric always denied taking anyone hostage.
All dark now few lights, very little smoke.
Then grab the ones that come to fetch the bodies.
BTW the siege is called Operation Silence, don’t know exactly why. There are lightly armed men with black t-shirts with “ANTITERROISM UNIT” stenciled on the back questioning relatives hanging around the entrance.
Commander Killed In Pakistan (Red) Mosque Siege
The Telegraph (UK) | 7-8-2007 | Isambard Wilkinson
Posted on 07/08/2007 9:24:30 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1862782/posts
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